Nashville Rises

The Year’s Top Stories

full reckoning of the May 2010 flood may respect exactly like the thousands of Volunteers who weren’t anonymous work crews and contributors rushing to the not be possible for years to come. Even then, the scope about to wait around for help from someone or somewhere else. city’s aid. In some respects, the outpouring was more than Aof its effect on the region – its environment, economy “In four or five days after the rain stopped, all the wet could be imagined. And in others, it will never be enough. and people – will be difficult to fully articulate; everything drywall, all the destroyed carpet [was] out in front of homes The struggle continues for too many. Some things are too changed. And everyone with more than a passing involvement ready to be picked up by public works,” Mayor Karl Dean precious to replace. Loss, grief, scars and frustration do not was changed. said at June’s Rising benefit. “The city government pass quickly, if ever. That story is impossible to tell without mentioning the didn’t do that. The state government didn’t do it. The federal But when the histories are written, they will have to tell a country artists who raised their voices from the flyover and government didn’t do it. The citizens of Nashville did it.” story of hope and community and connections between people urged oil-and-fizzle-obsessed networks to let the rest of the Citizenship extended beautifully as the weeks and months that are bigger than floating and flooded buildings. They nation know. Our neighborhood stars organized telethons, unfolded, with Country radio, Hollywood celebrities, must tell of a time when a great city, challenged, found out it benefits and wrote sizeable checks that made them in every New York and Washington media friends and scores of was even greater.

Most years, the departure of Nashville’s JOE AND O longest-tenured and most visible record company chief would be the runaway top story. As might the installation of a new leader at one of the industry’s biggest label groups. In a year of upheaval, however, the significance of the departure of Chairman Joe Galante and the arrival of his successor Gary Overton mustn’t be overlooked. Galante, who shares our Interview spotlight (page 33), traces a straight line of leadership back through Jerry Bradley to . The company he ultimately led was grown through a succession of mergers from his first principal executive post at RCA/Nashville in 1982. The roster of artists he signed, developed, worked with and established as stars may be unrivaled – Alabama, and , to name a very few. For Gary Overton and the Sony staff, the mission is to define a new era. Overton’s experience as an artist manager () and, for the last 15 years, as the head of EMI Publishing’s Nashville division, provides the company with a different skill set from what it knew under Galante. It is as distinct a difference as Galante’s business acumen was from that of producers Bradley and Atkins. Certainly, Overton will need to draw on all his abilities and his extensive associations within the country community as the company navigates a rapidly changing environment for those that sell recorded music. As for Galante, he’s never uttered the “r” word, and is open in this issue’s closing Country Strong: Galante (center, right) and Overton (right) with Sony Music piece about the opportunities now being presented to him. Whatever he decides to Entertainment CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz and Gwyneth Paltrow during CMA Week. do next, it’s a fair bet he’ll be written about in this space at the end of 2011.

12 10 3 The Year’s Top Stories 2010 By The Numbers

Biggest PD Market Jump 1. 133 to 62: KRMD-FM/Shreveport, LA’s Todd Nixon to WCKT/Ft. Myers. 2. 69 to 8: WCTO/Allentown’s Shelly Easton to WXTU/Philadelphia. 3. 44 to 5: WKDF/Nashville & WGKX/Memphis’ Dave Kelly to KSCS/Dallas.

Highest-Rated Country Stations, 12+ diary* 1. WXBQ/Johnson City, TN (Bristol) 23.9 2. WFGY/Altoona, PA (Forever) 23.4 3. WTHI/Terre Haute, IN (Emmis) 22.7 *Most recent diary ratings (Summer or Spring ‘10), non-subscriber-only markets

Highest-Rated Country Stations, 6+ PPM* 1. WFMS/Indianapolis (Cumulus) 10.7 2. KEEY/Minneapolis (Clear Channel) 9.4 3. WMIL/Milwaukee (Clear Channel) 8.8 *October 2010 PPM

Biggest One-Year Station Diary Increases* 1. KWYY/Casper, WY (Townsquare) +6.9 2. WKOA/Lafayette, IN (Schurz) +6.5 3. KIXQ/Joplin, MO (Zimmer) +5.8 4. KJKE/Oklahoma City (Tyler) +5.0 5. KUZZ-FM/Bakersfield (Owens One) +4.7 *Diary: Su09-Su10 in four-book markets, Sp09-Sp10 in other markets

Midnight, Cinderella Most Adds In One Week When President Randy Goodman spoke of accepting the opportunity to /Mine (Big Machine) 106 open the label, he often recounted the great lengths he went to trying to talk Disney out of the idea. Kenny Chesney/The Boys Of Fall (BNA) 88 Thankfully, they pressed on and, for well more than a decade, everyone from staff and artists to Country Kenny Chesney/Ain’t Back Yet (BNA) 80 radio were more than glad they did. Opened in June of 1997, Lyric Street was built on the notion of bringing mainstream Fastest To No. 1 to the fan base and promoting it through Country radio. And that singular focus served the company Kenny Chesney/The Boys Of Fall (BNA) 11 wks well with the successes notched by SheDaisy, Aaron Tippin, , Bucky Covington, Trent Lady Antebellum/Need You Now (Capitol) 13 wks Tomlinson and, most notably, the multi-platinum ascension of . /American Saturday Night (Arista) 13 wks The label expanded with the creation of second imprint Carolwood in October 2008. The additional Taylor Swift/Mine (Big Machine) 13 wks promotion staff notched a top 10 for promising newcomers Love And Theft, but was disbanded 13 months later by Disney. Just a few months later, Lyric Street itself was shut down, its roster largely Longest On Chart* released and Rascal Flatts signing on elsewhere. Lee Brice/Love Like Crazy (Curb) 43 wks In the end, Lyric Street enjoyed sales of nearly 30 million albums from 30 releases and 125 /This Ain’t Nothin’ (BNA) 35 wks singles. More enduringly, the label’s small staff was an especially tight-knit group as evidenced by Rodney Atkins/Farmer’s Daughter (Curb) 32 wks the impromptu reunion they enjoyed at a recent SheDaisy showcase. They just seemed to fit ... like Uncle Kracker/Smile (Top Dog/Atlantic/BPG) 32 wks a familiar glass slipper. *Among those that reached the Top 15 Cherry In Memoriam Turnovers Big Bill Lister If there’s ever been a year with more and higher-profile major market PD Jim Keating changes, we can’t think of it. Programmers in 10 of the top 25 markets left or were replaced in the last 12 months, and while finding a common thread Marjorie S. Crump is difficult, time will tell if accelerated turnover becomes a byproduct of the Danette “Lynn Thomas” McGowen quickly churning PPM ratings process. Changes in the top 10 markets included the June departure of KKGO/Los Angeles Sr. Director/Programming and McVay Media VP/Country Charlie Shirley Collie Nelson Cook after almost three years in the post. Programming is now handled Joe “Dr. Feel Good” Burge by owner Saul Levine, new consultant Jeff Pollack and PD/MD Tonya Cecil Heftel Campos. In , Bill Gamble exited WUSN in July, replaced by Buddy Scott, René Fontenot whose background in the market includes programming Top 40 WBBM-FM Ted Norman, Sr. (B96) from 1982-1990. In Dallas, WKDF/Nashville and WGKX/Memphis PD Johnnie High Dave Kelly added programming duties at Citadel sister KSCS. Bill Harper Elsewhere: CBS Radio/Houston VP/Programming and Top 40 KKHH & Hot AC KHMX/Houston PD Mark Adams adds duties for KILT-FM, as Jeff John House Garrison moves to the same post at KMLE/Phoenix (market 15). In Atlanta, Robert Keith Fowler WDAF/Kansas City OM/PD Dan Persigehl becomes OM for Clear Channel/ Atlanta and PD for WUBL, replacing Scott Lindy. And at WXTU/Philadelphia, WCTO/Allentown OM/PD and Citadel Country Format Captain Shelly Easton is Among the many other milestones, 2010 will be remembered as Randy Jones named PD at the Beasley Country outlet, succeeding Leo Baldwin. the year the “&” became, simply, “and.” As in ... and Michael Osterhout ... Ronnie Dunn. Brooks & Dunn capped a nearly 20-year run that established them as arguably Joshua Ragsdale the most successful duo Tom Pardon The in music history. Not to Sherri Sawyer be outdone, Gerry House Hank Cochran Change ripped Nashville morning radio off its Foundation Margaret Ann Rich Gang with the announcement of George Richey his retirement. House is Brian Crader featured, with Joe Galante, in The Interview beginning on page 33. Departures weren’t the only news, however. Interim CMA Bill Phillips CEO Steve Moore stepped down as Chairman to take the job in Ron “James Pond” Smith full, replacing 29-year CMA vet Tammy Genovese, who moved Debbie Gibson Palmer on to run The Country Network. And veteran industry exec and Mark Stevens consultant Bill Mayne was named CRB’s Executive Director. On the company front, the biggest story was the late December ’09 Will Tennyson merger of Show Dog and Universal South.

Volume 5, Issue 4, December 2010 Publisher/CEO VP/Sales & Marketing Manager/Graphics & Administration Art Direction Lon Helton Mary Forest Findley Kelley Keith Jerry Holthouse [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

1102 17th Avenue South VP/Editorial VP/Operations Coordinator/Graphic Design Contributor Suite 205, Nashville, TN 37212 Chuck Aly Jeff Green Mike Page Erin Duvall 615-320-1450 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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